Slate Springs Tennessee Chapel

I won't go into a full history of the Slate Springs branch here, but I came across some photos of one of their meeting houses and thought I would post an addendum dealing just with this building.

In 1946 two sister missionaries, Rowena Russell and Meta Johnson, began collecting pledges from members for the building a chapel. Friends and local businesses chipped in as well. At the time the Church expected one third of the expected cost to be collected before construction could begin. At the time the branch was meeting in a school house. But when the school moved on to a new building, maintenance of the old building was discontinued making continued use of the building problematic

Land was purchased from Lawrence Smith for $100.00 about 6 1/2 miles north of Crossville on Genesis Rd. I have found no clear address other than a description that it was "above what is known as the Lavender Cemetery" I can only assume this was an early name for the Slate Springs Cemetery which is in about the right location and for which county land records still use the name James Lavender Cemetery.

Construction began in 1951 on a small four room building. It included masonry walls, concrete floors, and an acoustic tile ceiling. There were four rooms a foyer and two restrooms with a wood stove. Construction was slow, taking about 6 years. It was dedicated in 1957.

Land behind the chapel was steep and heavily wooded making it impossible to photograph from that angle.

After the dedication, the branch expanded. Auxiliaries were organized, since they could take advantage of the constant access to the building. In a few years it became obvious that it would soon not be big enough. It would only be used for 20+ years before being replaced by the current building.

For a more complete history of the Slate Springs Branch and what became of it, see here...

http://amateurmormonhistorian.blogspot.com/2011/07/church-history-in-crossville-tenn-1878.html

Alvin Verd Washburn's Mission

[Since this is intended to be primarily about Verd's mission I have left much of the detail about his life before and after out of the narrative. What I have included was done for the sake of understanding what his mission was like for him. - BAllen]

Alvin "Verd" Washburn was born on 16 July 1897 to Jesse and Luella Washburn at Huntington, Utah. Verd was their first child and the family moved around for few years (school in Provo, a mission to Arizona, etc) before homesteading in Duchesne. As the oldest Verd took on more than his share of work. One of those responsibilities led to an accident when he was 16 years old. Although I have found a couple different recollections of the accident, they agree on the most important points. While driving a wagon his right leg was caught in the front wheel. The damage to the bones of his knee & leg were significant and he spent three months in recovery, and some of that in traction. Because of the damage to the flesh, which had to be regularly cleaned to prevent infection, a proper cast could not be used, so the bones did not knit back together properly. The knee joint healed two inches out of place.

Although Verd wrote that his recovery "seemed like an eternity" he did take advantage of the of the time to hone his musical talents. The accident did nothing to hinder his "fine baritone voice." He apparently already knew how to play the trombone and "through considerable sacrifice, the family acquired a piano for him to play." Miraculously, Vern learned to walk again though he did have crutches he used at least part of the time. After graduating from 8th grade, Verd studied music at Brigham Young Academy, where his father went to school.

"Returning to Duchesne at the end of the school year, he was set apart as the Sunday School Superintendent in his local church congregation. Although young, this experience prepared him for the Church mission call to the Southern States Mission which he received in July 1914 at the age of seventeen. The mission headquarters was in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Verd had been promised in a priesthood blessing that he would complete a mission. Luella records, “Had it not been for this promise I wonder if we would have had faith enough, considering the condition of his leg, to have accepted the call.” Before leaving for Tennessee, Verd was fitted with a lift for the shoe on his injured leg. The family reports that he left his crutches behind. Despite his physical limitations, he walked hundreds of miles in the mission field, successfully completing his mission." 

Verd described his mission this way. “The [missionary] work was very difficult and there were few rewards but serving my Heavenly Father was a wonderful experience for me which I have never regretted.” Of course, teasing out what he actually did on his mission is the point of this post so lets get to it.

Elder Alvin Verd Washburn arrived in Chattanooga on October 19th, 1914. According the mission records he was assigned to the East Tennessee Conference. But there was something going on about Elder Washburn's assignment that was different from assignments of other missionaries. It may have been due to physical limitation his leg or it may have been due to how people thought he should be treated because of his leg.

1. There is no note in the East Tennessee conference report welcoming him into the conference, which is odd since the customary welcome happens so regularly that it was nearly formulaic.
2. He is not included in many of the reports made on the East Tennessee Conference. When the conference president names people and the places they are working, Elder Washburn is seldom included. For the first six months, I can find no record of where he served within East Tennessee.
3. In some cases when he is included, he does not appear to have a steady companion, or his work is noted as being done with a member of the mission office staff, or someone who is normally working elsewhere.
4. He does appear in some photographs of the missionaries in the conference, but not all of them. The first is at the start of his mission. The second shows him with East Tennessee missionaires at a time when he was serving in Georgia, The third doesn't even look very much like him, though that may be due to the poor quality of the image. 

With that said there are some key events that show Elder Washburn had a normal proselyting mission. There were at least six baptisms he performed in Tennessee alone. I don't know of any in Georgia, since I don't have baptism records for that area. He was teaching school while he was there, so he might not have had any.

Verd was in Chattanooga for the 1914 visit by President Joseph F Smith. There weren't many times the President of the Church visited missions, so this one made news all over the Southern States. Verd had been on his mission for only 5 weeks so probably had no idea how big this was. 

In fact although he was assigned to the East Tennessee Conference, he probably stayed the entire first month in Chattanooga. And I don't see him him getting out for several months, though he certainly could have. In the meantime there was a photo taken (based on who is it in) sometime between Oct 29th and Nov 28th which shows all the missionaries in the East Tennessee Conference. My best guess was that it was taken at Chattanooga, either just before or just after Pres Smith's visit. Elder Washburn is on the left in the red box.

For the next five months I see nothing about where Elder Washburn is working. Missionaries were often give different assignments in the winter months, often in the cities instead of the countryside. If I had to speculate as to Verd's whereabouts based on later events on his mission, I would suggest he could have been teaching at one of the mission sponsored schools. These were small one to two person operations. He would teach the following year in Georgia, so it isn't much of a stretch. Not all of these schools were documented, but there was one in Brockdell, Tenn in 1916. The school could have been active in 1915 as well. This could explain why he was not with the other missionaries. Even beginning with that pure speculation, however, I can find nothing to support it.

It is April 1915 when we find Elder Washburn in Cumberland County with Elder Walter H Todd. Todd arrived in East Tennessee from North Carolina and jumped from area to area each month, probably spending only one or two months with Elder Washburn. The reports show the two doing missionary type stuff, meeting people and preaching to some. Elder Todd does not stay around for long. By June Todd was reassigned to Ohio.

In June Elder Washburn appears again where preached five meetings in an unspecified location with the help of Elder Arias G. Belnap who was assigned to work in the mission office. Were they preaching in Chattanooga near the office or somewhere else in East Tennessee requiring Elder Belnap to travel? The record doesn't say.

Two weeks later Elder Washburn and Elder Lewis G. Winter are working in an unnamed community where the missionaries have been preaching for "five years." The report describes a singing master who was teaching the people in the vicinity the songs of Zion. Knowing Verd's love of singing and that he studied music at BYA in Provo, I am tempted to think it is Elder Washburn who is doing the teaching. Elder Winter was a brand new missionary and Elder Washburn was his first companion. By the end of July, Elder Winter in baptizing in Warren county with Elder Workman, so the two did not stay together long.

In early August Elder Washburn has his first two baptisms; a married couple: Matilda Bedwell & Andrew J Bedwell Jr. in Pikeville, Bledsoe county. Elder Washburn reported two more baptisms in Bledsoe County  in September though I haven't identified them yet. It may be that the two in this report were the same as the two from the previous report. 

In November 1915 there were two more baptisms: Nancy Shannon & George Shannon at Soddy in Hamilton county. "A large crowd assembled at the river to witness the baptism, and previous to this ordinance a meeting was held - on the bank of the river." Nancy & George were a young couple - 18 & 22 - with a one year old son named William. George was confirmed by Henry Levi, who was not a missionary, but a neighbor who had joined the church two years earlier. It appears that Henry's wife Amanda was George's sister.

At the end of the month Elder Washburn was transferred to the Georgia Conference where he taught school for the winter in the town of Buchanan, Georgia. While he was there a branch was organized in February 1916 and an M.I.A. was organized. In March 1916 there was a conference held at which Verd played a trombone solo. Below is a photo taken at that conference, sans trombone. 

I have to say that this photo needs some kind of explanation. The record is quite clear that Elder Washburn is teaching in Buchanan, Georgia. Yet here he is in a photo of East Tennessee missionaries. He does not get transferred back to East Tennessee for another month. But there are several possible explanations for this. 1) Verd could have been one of the visitors from Georgia and the photo is therefore just mislabeled. 2) Verd could have been considered still part of the East Tennessee conference and was only on loan to Georgia to teach school. 3) The transfer in April could have really happened in March at this meeting but was incorrectly recorded. Which one is right? Or are none of them right? We may never know.

In April 1916, Elder Washburn was (officially) transferred back into the East Tennessee Conference.

In May, Elder Washburn teamed up with Elder Samuel E. Rockwood in Bledsoe county. Elder Rockwood had been teaching in Brockdell in Bledsoe county for the winter. Later that month Andrew J Bedwell Sr. - father and namesake of an earlier convert - was baptized in Pikeville. Elder Washburn officiated the confirmation.

For June, July and probably most of August, Elder Washburn stayed in Bledsoe county. He had three different companions this month. Elder Joseph F. Mecham was in the first part of June. Elder Mecham became ill and by the first part of July was on his way home. That illness led to Verd getting a new companion. In the later part of June Verd was working with Elder Judson L Tolman, but he too leaves for Fentress county before the middle of July. By August we learn that Verd's third companion is Elder Walter G Willis, and the two of them baptized five people that month; four of them by Elder Washburn, one by Elder Willis, all in Bledsoe county. The two spread out into neighboring Sequatchie county, holding street and hall meetings.

On Aug 29th, Elder Washburn is participating in street meeting being held by Elders Joseph Soelburg and Brigham R Wheeler who were both assigned to the mission office. I can't say whether the two mission office Elders went to Elder Washburn or if he went to Chattanooga. Either would have been quite possible.

At the end of September Elder Washburn and a new companion, Elder Merlin G. Shumway, were transferred together to the Middle Tennessee conference where they preached mainly in Memphis all of October and into November. The two worked closely with the local leadership to strengthen the recently organized Memphis Branch.

After six weeks in Memphis both Elder Washburn and Elder Shumway were released to return home.

Whatever concerns the mission leadership may have had about Elder Washburn and his leg, they appear to have dissipated by the end of his service. He may not have traveled as much as some other missionaries, having spent some time teaching school or preaching mostly in a single county. But he taught, preached, and shared his talents. And that led to more than just a few people joining the Church. 

Church History in Crossville, Tenn 1878-1957

Crossville is a city in east central Tennessee which today has about 11,000 people. It sits at what was the crossroads for Nashville-Knoxville traffic and Chattanooga-Kentucky traffic. Its "on-the-beaten-path" location meant it was hard hit by the depredations of the Civil War from both sides. Elder Parley Pratt Jr. and his companion Daniel Stuart undoubtedly passed through in 1878 on their mission to east Tennessee, since there would be no other way to go. Though he does not note it in his letters, one Crossville newspaper reported that in the nearby town of Newton [seven miles southwest of Crossville] in November 1878 that...

We had quite a confusion at church Sunday on account of the appearance of two Mormon brethren – “Normans” as they are styled in this community. Brother Simmons, Baptist preacher in this place spoke against their beliefs and when he was through one of the Mormons asked permission to speak and he came down on the Baptist denomination. Brother Simmons came very close to giving him the “ghost” but not so very holy either.

The earliest baptisms in the Crossville area are in 1906. On April 15th of that year Sallie Durham Barnes, a 43 year old woman joined the Church without her husband. They lived in Linary, about 6 miles south east of Crossville. Also baptized on the same day was 15 year old Johnny W. Carpenter. His mother, Mary E. Carpenter, was already a member, says one source, but without an explanation of where or when she was baptized.

The record from there on is equally sketchy. On August 6th 1911 Malisa "May" Hyder was the first to get baptized in her family. How she met the missionaries, even who she met, has been lost to history. The Hyder family lived in Slate Springs about 8 miles north of Crossville.

On September 15th 1912, Sallie Durham Barnes, had her son Charles Henry Barnes taught and baptized.

In January of 1913, two missionaries Elders Earl B. Hales and Orson Sprague held meetings in nearby Dorton, about 4 miles east of Crossville. They were well received, although they had no baptisms before obligations elsewhere required them to leave.

In the next few years adult children from both the Barnes and Hyder families were taught the gospel and were baptized; Ulysses Grant Barnes on 18 June 1914, Carrie Hyder (Warf) on 9 Aug 1914, Maude Hyder (Jolly) on 9 Aug 1914, and Nora Hyder (Warf) on 7 Nov 1915.

In 1918, Elders Lionel LeCheminant and Charles A. Robbins had a "protracted appointment" at Crossville. It was at this meeting that Ivan Leland Barnes was baptized on Oct 9th 1918. A year later, Elders Langston and Davis were in Crossville receiving even greater attention, and more baptisms. Catherine Hyder (Hamby) joined the Church about this time, though the exact date is unknown.

From 1922 to 1924, Elder Rulon Killian and his several companions visited the Crossville area and baptized several families. There were relatives of existing members, like the Hamby's, Barnes', Hyder's, and Goss' as well as new families like Jesse and Amanda Adams.

In 1926, "The East Tennessee conference was held in this place Saturday and Sunday, July 24 and 25, and the court officials generously granted us the use of the Courthouse in which to meet. The courtroom is large, cool and well seated. At all the public sessions of the conference there were fair-sized congregations but on Sunday night, when Prest. Callis gave an illustrated lecture, the large auditorium was filled. Fully seventy per cent of those who attended the conference were non-members. Prest. Douglas and his associates are entitled to much credit for the excellent arrangements made which contributed largely to the success of the gathering." (Liahona: The Elders Journal)

Sister Mayme Goss (Pugmire) remembered that meeting. It was the one and only time she walked to Crossville. When it was over the missionaries stood at the doors thanking the people for coming and passed out tracts. Some people took several, others took them and threw them on the ground once they were outside. The missionaries just gathered up the discarded tracts saying "That was too bad they did that, for one day they'll want to know what was in those tracts."

Conference organizers even arranged a baseball game between the Elders and the local Crossville team on the Saturday between sessions. The game, no doubt, drew out some who would not have come otherwise. The missionaries lost three to four.

In general the people of Crossville were accepting and tolerant of the Mormons. Although the elders were once invited to an outlying community where they were pelted with eggs and tomatoes, the honest and accepting folks of Crossville did not tolerate violence. In addition to being allowed to use the courthouse, the missionaries were even invited to speak in the chapel of the Union Methodist High School in 1928 through the efforts of Gladys Hamby, a member of the church and a student at the school. Another conference was held in the First Congregational Church with the permission of the Reverend Abram Nightingale.

In 1930, a Sunday School was organized with Ivan Barnes as the superintendent. Harold Goss, and Richard Hamby assisted him along with Mable Hyder, Stella Hamby and Ruth Hamby.

Wayne J Stephens and his wife Ida "Ethel" Stinson Stephens came to Crossville from Glenobey, Tennessee. to assist in building up the church. Wayne had joined the church in 1911 and had already been ordained an Elder. His business was in motor freight. When conferences of the Church were held in other areas of east Tennessee, he would take one of his trucks and install seats in the back. There was room in the truck for whomever wanted to attend the conference from Crossville. The novelty of the Crossville saints arriving by truck was described more than once in mission reports. But they did more that provide rides. The built leadership too. Willima Harold Goss was probably the first person from th area to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. He was ordained an Elder in 1938. It was through Wayne and Ethel's hard work that a branch of the Church was finally organized in 1939 at Slate Springs, eight miles north of Crossville.

A Relief Society was organized in 1943, with Stella Hamby as President, Amanda Adams as First Counselor, Frances Goss as Second Counselor and Minnie Goss as Secretary. In 1946, two sister missionaries Rowena Russell and Meta Johnson organized a Primary. They also began collecting pledges for work on a new chapel. The branch had been using the community school house, but after the school moved into a new building, it began to fall into disrepair.

Land was purchased and construction began in 1951. The building was a simple four room structure made of masonry walls and a cement slab floor. It was dedicated in 1957.

[postscript: The Slate Springs Branch was renamed the Crossville Branch in 1972, and in 1976 a new chapel was built closer into town. In 1991 the Crossville Branch became a Ward.]

Crossville chapel today